Shoutbox

my cousin wants to setup a home network with his laptop and pc. he asked me to sort it out for him but im running into a bit of trouble.
i have run the wizards on both machines giving them their roles (host and client) but in the Network Connections Window, the network adapters on both the laptop and pc say its unplugged. the lights by the network ports arnt flashing.
Also on both systems, in the Device Manager, in Other Devices theres something called a PCI Simple Communications Controller. i googled and no luck

Heres the spec for both systems:

PC (host, directly connected to the internet):

CPU - AMD Athlon 1.04Ghz
Motherboard - ECS K7S5A
RAM - 256Mb
Motherboard Chipset - SiS 735
OS - Windows XP Pro
Network Card - USB 10/100 Network Adapter
Network Card (Internet) - USB Cable Modem 351000

Laptop:

CPU - Mobile AMD Athlon XP-A 800Mhz
Motherboard - Unknown
RAM - 190Mb
Motherboard Chipset - VIA VT8378 ( A) UniChrome KM400 ( A)
OS - Windows XP Pro
Network Card - VIA Compatable Fast Ethernet

How did you connect it? With a hub or a router?

or a direct connection?

With the first connection you need a straight UTP cable and with the second you need an crossed UTP cable

Are you sure you used the right cable?

im using a corssover cable. i have a bit of knowlegde of netowkring with crossvoer cables cos i had to setup my own network like it.
the pc is really old and custom built and it doesnt have and ehternet port at the back so he got a usb to ethernet adapter and the laptop has an ehternet prot so its connected directly to it

does that usb to ethernet adapter come with any drivers, is it correctly installed?

yeh i had to install the drivers today cos he didnt have them so yeh thats installed properly

Perhaps you really need a patch cable? I don't know how a usb ethernet port works. Normally if you are connected to a switch you can still see lights even when the computer is off (although the usb adapter may need to be powered so it may not work the same).
Get your green leds flashing first.

i dont know how
the one end of the crossover cable which is in the laptop doesnt show the lights nor does the usb adapter. as far as i know the adapter doesnt need an external power supply

No, it would be powerd by the PC - but when the PC is off then it wouldn't be providing power anymore. It was a bit off topic, so ignore it.

If you can get your hands on a patch cable, try it. Sometimes the solution is as simple as that.

Check your Bios settings for the laptop to make sure the ethernet port is enabled.

Apart from that, I would start looking at the usb device, which I'm sure you've done though

yeh ill rumage through the BIOS and see if that may be the solution. but i gotta wait until tomoz to find out.
keep the suggestions coming

If you have access to any other computer/laptop, try connecting to it and see if it works. You should be able to determine where your problem is better.

Do you still have a spare PCI slot on the PC? Get your hands on a PCI ethernet card - buy one, borrow one, steal it form the guy next door. Don't try making your own, it won't work. It's not necessary but this will determine if it is the USB device.